It is nearly impos­si­ble for me to sum up my time at Justice High School, nonethe­less, The Verdict, in one mere letter, as it cannot account for all the stress­ful after-school layout sessions and the cele­bra­tory issue publi­ca­tion parties. The Verdict created an envi­ron­ment in which I could develop not only my writ­ing skills, but also demon­strate lead­er­ship I had not real­ized was laying within me. I have been honored to serve as Editor-in-Chief.

When I entered Justice as a fresh­man, I had no idea there was a student news­pa­per, nor was it some­thing I was inter­ested in. It was not until my sopho­more year that I joined jour­nal­ism as a class to fill my course require­ments. With my sopho­more year being completely virtual and the publi­ca­tion online, I was given the time to develop my jour­nal­is­tic writ­ing skills. I found myself drawn to jour­nal­ism and to pursue an editor posi­tion the follow­ing year.

Return­ing to the class­room my junior year, I was able to completely immerse myself in events of the local commu­nity. I was presented the oppor­tu­nity to cover a vari­ety of topics, whether it be an outstand­ing athlete, or larger issues, such as the proposed plan to pave Justice Park. I feel incred­i­bly fortu­nate to be a part of a student news­pa­per that contin­ues to cover issues thought as contro­ver­sial rang­ing from the school expan­sion to crit­i­cal race theory, none of which would have been possi­ble with­out the endless support of our adviser, Ms. Machado. It was her first year in the class­room, just as it was mine, and she fervently expressed her excite­ment for what was to come. Ms. Machado’s guid­ance and wisdom have been instru­men­tal in shap­ing me as both a jour­nal­ist and a person. By follow­ing the exam­ple of my adviser and the editors above me, I gained a sense of what it truly meant to be a jour­nal­ist: to seek and share the truth, despite the diffi­culty of it.

The tran­si­tion of The Verdict from my junior to senior year brought a great chal­lenge in that we had an almost entirely new staff with just four return­ing editors. As I have now learned, senior year is possi­bly the most stress­ful time of high school, and while juggling the crazi­ness of the IB Diploma Program with college appli­ca­tions, jour­nal­ism initially seemed to be an addi­tional stres­sor. Yet I am more than pleased to say it was the complete oppo­site. Although the process to final­ize and publish the first issue came about at a slower rate, a vari­ety of staff writ­ers stepped up to take on greater respon­si­bil­i­ties. The primary obsta­cle was the launch of The Verdic­t’s brand new website while contin­u­ing with our printed publi­ca­tion. I would like to express my grat­i­tude to fresh­man Blue Linden who imme­di­ately took lead­er­ship in main­tain­ing the website, and sopho­more Maya Camp­bell, who consis­tently provided ideas for the phys­i­cal publi­ca­tions. My deep­est appre­ci­a­tion lies within my manag­ing editor, and part­ner in crime, Alessan­dra Simmons-Robles. Her dedi­ca­tion, hard work, and lead­er­ship have been indis­pens­able to the success of our publi­ca­tion. I am forever grate­ful for her friend­ship and cease­less support.

With this being the fourth and final issue of the year, I am consumed with happi­ness to see what The Verdict has accom­plished in these past eight months. I have complete confi­dence in the capa­bil­i­ties of the future editors, and I believe that student jour­nal­ism within Justice will continue to grow. Although I am leav­ing this chap­ter of my life behind, I will continue to vouch for the impor­tance of jour­nal­ism within a commu­nity and empha­size what former pres­i­dent Thomas Jeffer­son once said: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a govern­ment with­out news­pa­pers, or news­pa­pers with­out a govern­ment, I should not hesi­tate a moment to prefer the latter.”

One half of me did not want to begin writ­ing this letter, as I knew it meant my time here at The Verdict had come to a close. But the other half was more than happy to express the grat­i­tude I have for a program that has done so much for me. As grad­u­a­tion approaches, I am filled with a mix of emotions- excite­ment, antic­i­pa­tion, and natu­rally sadness. It is bitter­sweet to say good­bye to the place that has become home for the past four years, but I am look­ing forward to what is yet to come. I am grate­ful for the memo­ries, friend­ships, and lessons learned along the way. Here’s to the next chapter!

Sincerely,
Alex Budden­deck